A ten year old public school boy was finding fifth grade
math to be the challenge of his life. Science? A piece
of cake. Geography? No big deal. Spelling? Ha! Give me
a break... But MATH? It was devastating!

Not only to him, but to his mom and dad, too! And not
that they weren't doing everything and anything to help
their son... private tutors, peer assistance, CD-ROMS,
textbooks, even HYPNOSIS! Nothing worked. Finally, at the
insistence of a family friend, they decided to enroll their
son in a private school. Not just ANY private school, but a
Catholic school. The parents were not religious but had heard
it was a good school.

After the first day of school, the boy studied math for
nearly two hours each night. This pattern continued
ceaselessly until it was time for the first report card.

After school, the boy walked into the home with his
report card, unopened, in his hand.
Without a word, he dropped the envelope on the family dinner
table and went straight to his room. His parents were petrified. What lay inside the envelope? Success? Failure?

Patiently, the mother opened the letter. To her amazement,
she saw a bright red "A+" under the subject, MATH. Overjoyed,
she and her husband rushed into their son's room, thrilled
at the remarkable progress of their young son!

"Was it the nuns that did it?" the father asked.
The boy only shook his head and said, "No."

"Was it the one-on-one tutoring?" asked the mother.
Again, the boy shrugged, "No."

"The textbooks? The teacher?" asked the father.
"Nope," said the son. "It was all very clear to me from
the very first day of school, that these folks in
Catholic school took math seriously!"
"How so?" asked his mom.

"When I sat down in class the first day and looked over the
teacher's desk I saw a guy they'd nailed to the plus sign,
I knew they meant business!"

The song "Journey
of the Mind"
is featured on "Dreams of Love" CD by Margi
Harrell